ten pesos

Months ago, I ate pesto pasta with chicken several times in Pizza Volante of Baguio City, but I had not tried it in Vizco’s until last week. I love it! I like Vizco’s pesto so much more than Volante’s, and the fresh bread is also delicious. I have dined on this several times last week and this week. Now, the chicken atop the pasta (optional) is battered and fried irregular scraps of meat — not elegant. In Pizza Volante it’s neatly-sliced, almost uniform strips arrayed across the top of pasta on a dished oval plate. In Vizco’s, the pasta is served in a bowl, and it’s so delicious. I heartily recommend it.

Today, as two weeks ago, Esmond (from Britain and South Africa), Analyn, and Randy (from Massachusetts) hosted a patio party on a balcony near Tam-Awan Village in Baguio City, overlooking Luzon’s coast and the sunset on South China Sea. We didn’t have as many folks as last time, but we enjoyed conversation and ate imported steaks tilapia, chop suey, white rice, chips and dip, rocky road ice cream… “A good time was had by all.”

Quezon City police stopped Enrique Panlaque in a Mitsubishi L300 cargo van about 10 p.m. on Sunday. In the van were 75 dogs, including 67 sick ones, that Mr. Panlaque intended to sell to butchers for 600 pesos ($12.24) each. His employees had been observed buying unwanted dogs and snatching stray dogs to sell to meat markets although Panlaque has been arrested six times previously in seven years for selling dog meat. Apparently he wasn’t convicted and punished enough to dissuade him from resuming snatching and selling sick dogs to butchers in Northern Luzon. Demand and supply… »→

The young people filling some of the other rooms in Olahbinan woke me at 6:30. I prayed then arose to got to breakfast in Masferré. The Saturday street market was in full swing under a cloudy sky by the time I arrived. But I didn’t peruse the stalls as I did last month; I wanted to break fast and get some caffeine. Outside Masferré the staff had a table holding four pots, and I asked for a bowl of Aroscaldo to take inside for an appetizer while I awaited my Mountain Tea and Spanish omelet (which turned out to contain fish!). The “toast” on the menu was a round sourdough roll sliced into fourths and untoasted. No butter, jam or jelly… »→

Today Nick (12) brought his sisters, Charlotte (8) and Rose (6) to the apartment, and after I ate breakfast and drank a cup of tea while they watched cartoons, we headed to Baguio City. I expected that we’d ride a jeepney, as is customary. But every jeepney that passed us as we stood beside Tuding Road was full. Rural residents  like to go to the big city for shopping, churchgoing or selling their wares (handicrafts), produce and livestock. So we couldn’t get a jeepney to stop for us. We boarded one of the several taxis going toward the city whose drivers wanted a paying passenger. »→

“Saturday… in the park” is a lyric from an old Chicago song that I’ve liked. Today, after lunch in Leah’s home, I rode atop a jeepney to the Monterrazas Village entrance then walked down to Baguio Gold to ask the girls if they’d like to go tricycling in Baguio City’s Burnham Park. »→